198 Quotes by William Godwin

The first duty of man is to take none of the principles of conduct upon trust; to do nothing without a clear and individual conviction that it is right to be done.

Power is not happiness. Security and peace are more to be desired than a man at which nations tremble.

If there be such a thing as truth, it must infallibly be struck out by the collision of mind with mind.

Perfectibility is one of the most unequivocal characteristics of the human species.

No man must encroach upon my province, nor I upon his. He may advise me, moderately and without pertinaciousness, but he must not expect to dictate to me. He may censure me freely and without reserve; but he should remember that I am to act by my deliberation and not his. I ought to exercise my talents for the benefit of others; but that exercise must be the fruit of my own conviction; no man must attempt to press me into the service.

Whenever truth stands in the mind unaccompanied by the evidence upon which it depends, it cannot properly be said to be apprehended at all.

The subtleties of mathematics defecate the grossness of our apprehension, and supply the elements of a sounder and severer logic.

Our judgment will always suspect those weapons that can be used with equal prospect of success on both sides.

I shall attempt to prove two things: first, that the actions and dispositions of mankind are the offspring of circumstances and events, and not of any original determination that they bring into the world; and, secondly, that the great stream of our voluntary actions essentially depends, not upon the direct and immediate impulses of sense, but upon the decisions of the understanding.